The Cullen Case
by Walnutt
Summary: Edward is not a killer; at least he wasn't six months ago. What could drive a decent man to commit some of the most horrific murders that Detective Jacob Black and the Seattle Police Department have ever seen? Rated M for strong language, sexual content and graphic violence.
1. chapter 1

**Present Day**

Inhale. Exhale.

 _Fucking paperwork._

Detective Black traced his calloused fingers over the stack of paper that lay before him; the same stack that had been taunting him the entire week. At the top of the page was the one word that had been seared into his brain for months;

Cullen.

The detective's sharp brown eyes slowly turned to the corkboard that had amassed enough candid pictures of Edward Cullen to induce a paparazzi's wet dream. Edward at a cafe. Edward on The Plaza. Edward at a bar. Edward in his driveway. Edward in his bedroom. Jacob Black felt as though he was slowly crossing the line between being a good detective and being a stalker.

 _Is there really a difference?_

His massive hand grabbed the glass that he had been drinking from off of his oakwood desk, taking another deep swig of the watered down whiskey. He needed to be a little drunk in order to stomach the file that was in front of him.

 _14 year old female. Dead on arrival. Severe chemical burns covering entire body. Left eye missing. Genital mutilation._ _8 year old female. Dead on arrival. Severe chemical burns covering entire body. Left eye missing. Genit..._

 _FUCK._

Jacob Black swiped his hand across his desk, spewing the papers all over his office floor.

"8 fucking years old..."

He quickly devoured the rest of his whiskey, contemplating only for a second before he grabbed the bottle from the third drawer on his right and filled the glass almost to the brim.

The sound of knocking forced the detective out of his inebriated mind.

"Come in." He made no attempt to hide the overflowing glass of whiskey.

"Detective, I..." Seth Clearwater staggered for a moment, his eyes quickly scanning the paper massacre on the floor, the glass of whiskey, and then the sunken face of a man who had forgotten that sleep was even possible. Seth recovered almost instantly.

"Detective, I just got off the phone with the tip hotline. Someone believes they spotted Cullen in a black Astin Martin exiting the city on 35-westbound."

Jacob straightened the navy blue tie that haphazardly hung from his neck, taking the time to remind himself to breathe in and breathe out.

"He wouldn't be dumb enough to drive the car that we know for a fact he has. Especially if his intent is to flee the city." Black sighed. "Besides, we receive close to 50 calls a day about various spottings of Edward Cullen. If you can explain how that monster gets to Portland 5 minutes after being spotted in Des Moines, I'll give you my whole goddamned pension and suck your dick for good measure."

Seth halfheartedly chuckled and turned back toward the door. "Get some sleep you cranky cunt."

"What the fuck is sleep," Black muttered to himself as his office door creaked closed.

The subtle amusement that filled the air dissipated as his eyes fell back to the face of the most horrific man he could possibly imagine. Ten murders over the course of three months. The murders consistently had five things in common: the victims were females, they were under the age of 18, they had severe chemical burns across their entire body, their left eyes were missing and their genitals were mutilated.

"Only someone who's severely fucked in the head could make this shit up."

Jacob closed his eyes, the alcohol-induced sleep had come at long last. The detective slowly released control of his consciousness and allowed the murderous nightmares to engulf him like they had done since he was first assigned to the Cullen Case.


	2. Chapter 2

**Present Day**

"Bella...I'm so sorry." Edward closed his eyes tightly, attempting to fend off the tears that were threatening to fall down his face. "I never meant for you to see me like this." He opened his eyes and met the same look in her eyes, the look that had been stuck on her face for a while now.

"Edward..."

He brought his right hand up to meet Bella's face, gently rubbing her cheek with his thumb. A dim spark of hope fluttered through his stomach when she allowed him to keep his hand there.

"Why...How could you do those things? Those girls..."

"They fucking deserved it!" His head jerked sharply to the right, unable to meet her eyes until he controlled the shaking anger that had overtaken him. "All of them deserved it," he said more calmly, regaining some semblance of composure. "For what they did, for who they're related to, they deserved it."

Silence.

Silence was okay. Edward remained transfixed on Bella's beautiful eyes. He smiled. No matter how upset she was now, no matter what the world thought of him, Edward didn't care. All he cared about was spending the rest of his existence with the love of his life. But his smile quickly faltered. He stepped away from Bella and turned around, facing the notebook that was lying open on his coffee table. He nodded.

"I don't care what the world thinks of me or what I've done, but I won't let them tarnish your memory, Bella. I'll make sure they all know the truth before this is over."

Edward sat down on the couch, slightly hurt but understanding of why Bella wouldn't join him in that moment. It would take some time but everything would eventually go back to normal. He picked up the blue pen that was placed next to the notebook, glancing back at the love of his life with a smile. Her beautiful smile that he's always loved met his in return, giving him the strength to continue.

 _If you're reading this, here's a warning; this is not a happy story. Bella and I will be the only ones that are happy at the end of this. You may know how this story concludes; I imagine it's already all over the news. But if you don't know, it's a terrible ending. If you don't like stories that aren't happy ever after, I suggest that you stop reading now. A lot of bad things have been done and no detail will be spared. I know I'm an evil person. I've accepted that. But my Bella is not. She's pure and innocent._

 _This is my attempt to keep her name from being tarnished._

 _It began six months ago_.

 **Six months earlier**

You know what is pure, unadulterated torture? The absolute worst thing you could subject a human being to? Forcing someone to listen to an uninterested, middle aged man ramble on for 40 minutes in a monotone voice about...honestly about anything really. This specific instance was in regards to the actual meaning behind the 'literary masterpiece that is The Scarlett Letter.' Give me a break, this book was terrible. No understanding of proper pacing and absolutely dull characters, just to name a few of the many critiques that I have in regards to that...dumpsterfire of words.

I had to catch myself starting to slip into the only embrace that I've ever truly loved; the sweet embrace of sleep. No amount of coffee would make this easy. That is, until she walked in.

Forks Community College was small but mighty. For some reason, people didn't have the brains to get out as quickly as they could once high school was finished. I was sadly part of that group of misfortunate idiots. So about 30 pairs of eyes were instantly focused on the girl that made a grand, stumbling entrance. The shade of red that was painted on her face was a dark one but I swear it went ten shades darker when she finally stood up and locked eyes with me.

The girl did a quick take, and then a double take, and finally a triple take before realizing that the seat next to me was indeed the only available spot. A smile danced across my face as a gave the back of my seat a pat, inviting her to sit. Unfortunately, I sat at the back of the, so she had to walk through the rows of desks before swiftly taking a seat and avoiding all eye contact with me. Mr. Brown began to lecture again but I barely registered any of his words.

"Hey, it's okay. I don't think anyone noticed." I couldn't keep the playful smile hidden as she looked up, blindly hopeful for a second before realizing there was no chance that was true. She released an audible huff before thrusting her had back into her crossed arms.

"Seriously though, thank you for giving me something fun in this class. I was so close to falling asleep and probably ruining all of my notes with my drool."

"Ew," she responded, allowing her eyes to peak out from the prison of shame. "I'm glad to save you from that embarrassment. I couldn't even imagine what public humiliation would feel like."

Even with the drone of Mr. Brown in the background, I could tell that her voice was magical. There is no way that angels didn't sound like her. If they didn't, God was doing something wrong and probably needed to reevaluate some things.

"I'm Edward," I spoke lamely, cringing internally at how awkward I was. I normally didn't have trouble speaking to women because I never found any interest in them. For some inexplicable reason, she was different.

Her face lit up slightly, her smile leaving me breathless. "Bella," she said simply, her eyes never moving from mine and the smile on her face only growing bigger. It felt like I had looked into her eyes for an eternity.

In that moment, I knew that I was in love with her.


	3. Interlude

**Present Day**

Edward glanced at the front door before darting his eyes to the grandfather clock that was nestled in the corner of the large room. "I don't have much time." He sighed and returned his tired gaze to the notebook in front of him.

 _It may seem hard to believe, especially if you get the whole story and see who I was at the beginning. But don't listen to anyone trying to protect me. I committed those crimes..._

Edward looked at Bella with a smile on his face.

 _And I would do it all again in a heartbeat._


End file.
